Well before bin Laden's assassination, some senior Taliban officials with ties to the Quetta Shura made statements to the Century Foundation Task Force that appeared to be open to such a commitment. "They said this can happen -- something to that effect -- as part of an agreement," recalled Jeffrey Laurenti, director of foreign policy programs for the Century Foundation, who accompanied task force members in those meetings.
In early December 2009, the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" -- the official name by which the Taliban identifies itself -- sent out a statement to press organizations declaring it had "no agenda of meddling in the internal affairs of other countries and is ready to give legal guarantees if foreign forces are withdrawn from Afghanistan."
Although it did not explicitly mention Al-Qaeda in the statement, it was clearly a response to the Obama administration pointing to Taliban ties with Al-Qaeda as central to the rationale for the U.S.- NATO war.
But the Taliban are not expected to make a declaration explicitly naming Al-Qaeda in advance of an agreement, much less before negotiations begin. "It makes no sense for the Taliban to concede this point on the front end -- without receiving any commensurate concession from the other side," the Century Foundation's Hanna told Associated Press this week.
"They portray any pre-emptive severing of ties as a type of unilateral partial disarmament," he added.
The new narrative also suggests that the killing of bin Laden may now reduce another obstacle to peace negotiations -- Pakistani policy. U.S. officials were said to believe that Pakistani officials had "interfered with peace efforts in the past", but now that Pakistan is under fire for possible complicity in bin Laden's living near the capital for years, "have an opportunity to play a more constructive role."
Pakistani policy has opposed peace negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan regime behind Pakistan's back. But contrary to the new narrative, Pakistan has been more eager to begin peace negotiations than the United States.
Pakistan has long complained that it was not being informed about U.S. negotiating aims and strategy -- especially with whom the United States is willing to talk and whether it hopes to impose stiff demands on the Taliban through military force. Speaking at the New America Foundation Apr. 22, Pakistani Foreign Minister Salman Bashir hinted strongly that his government disagrees with the U.S. strategy of hoping that military pressure will yield a better settlement.
"In Islamabad we have our own assessment of the situation in Afghanistan," said the foreign minister. "The U.S. says the momentum of the Taliban has been halted, but is fragile and reversible. Our own assessment is that the security situation has continued to deteriorate."
The new Obama administration narrative seems to suggest that Pakistan will now display a less skeptical attitude toward the U.S. diplomatic strategy and urge the Taliban to negotiate despite the signals of U.S. determination to keep a long-term military presence in Afghanistan.(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
